National Public Radio, which routinely calls Hamas suicide bombers "militants" or "activists," rather than terrorists, has finally found some West Bankers it can comfortably refer to with the "T" word. And no, these terrorists are not from Islamic Jihad, or the Al- Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine ...
Bruce Drake, NPR's Vice President for News, sent a letter to CAMERA on August 9 protesting that a recent article on our website had included a "serious distortion of NPR's policies and practices" regarding which of NPR's Middle East broadcasts are available on the network's website. We do not agree with Mr. Drake's allegation. Below, the relevant section of Mr. Drake's letter, followed by CAMERA's reply:
Nothing underscores National Public Radio's shoddy Middle East reporting and evasion of accountability quite like its official rejoinders to criticism. News Vice President Bruce Drake replied to a Jerusalem Post column critical of NPR coverage ("National Public Radio Off the Map," May 23, 2003) dodging and obfuscating in familiar style
Like deja vu all over again, National Public Radio has covered the release of the road map and surrounding events with the same tilt toward Palestinian interests it displayed for a decade in reporting the failed Oslo negotiations.
Once again, National Public Radio has focused lopsided coverage on Palestinian civilians unintentionally killed during an Israeli incursion into Gaza, minimizing the responsibility of Palestinian gunmen in deliberately endangering their own civilians, while giving only perfunctory coverage to Israeli civilians targeted for death by an Arab suicide bomber.
NPR reporter Kate Seelye, a former Manager of Media Relations for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), regularly interviews speakers from the Arab world and routinely gives them a platform for distorted, self-serving claims about Middle East events. Rarely, if ever, does she ask challenging questions or contradict her guests.
Coverage of the story of Rachel Corrie, the American college student and Palestinian advocate killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza while attempting to block a house demolition, followed predictable trends.
On March 12, 2003, NPR's “Fresh Air” broadcast an interview with host Terry Gross and New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief James Bennet. Among other things, Gross asked Bennet about Israel's anti-terrorist actions in Gaza–but she didn't term them anti-terrorist actions. Instead, she repeatedly referred to “tit-for-tat murders,” drawing a parallel between Hamas's terrorist attacks against Israeli children and the Israeli army's attempts to root out the killers.
An Islamic extremist explodes a bomb amidst a crowd of civilians on March 4th, killing more than 20, including himself. Less than a day later another Islamic extremist explodes a bomb on a civilian bus, killing more than 15, including himself. Parallel stories, but not covered in a parallel way on National Public Radio.